Trick or Treat 2021 Welcome and Update

[pumpkinkingmod]

Hello, ghosts and goblins! It's time for another spooky season of Trick or Treat. I'd like to briefly introduce myself as the new Pumpkin King—Hello, I'm the new Pumpkin King! Thank you very much to the previous rulers who have made this event so much fun over the years.

The 2021 rules and FAQ post is here. The schedule remains as usual:

Sept 1 – Nominations Open
Sept 8 – Nominations Close
Sept 11 – Sign-Ups Open
Sept 18 – Sign-Ups Close
October 24 – Assignments Due
October 31 – Gift Reveals
November 7 – Creator Reveals

There is one significant update for the 2021 round of Trick or Treat; I've decided to add relationship nominations and matching as an option. If you love the traditional Trick or Treat character matching set-up, you can continue to nominate, request, and offer characters as usual! Relationship tags will just be an extra option for participants interested in that.

Due to these changes, I won’t be using an eternal tag set this year.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I'm excited for the tricks and treats to come!

Edit: Just a note that I'm slowing down on comment replies here but will get to questions as I can. The above changes are confirmed for the 2021 round. No decisions have been made about the 2022 round.

Comments

[muccamukk]

I don't understand why this change is happening. I loved that the fest was character/or matching, and the amount of ambiguity that allowed in my requests, and how that pushed the fest in a slightly more gen direction. This is really going to change the feel of the whole thing. Please reconsider.

[pumpkinkingmod]

Thank you for chiming in, I appreciate the feedback! The addition of ships is set for this year, but participants will still be able to nominate, request, and offer single characters like before. As in past years, participants requesting single characters will still be able to prompt for a variety of gen and shippy ideas focused on those characters.

[fiachairecht]

participants will still be able to nominate, request, and offer single characters like before. As in past years, participants requesting single characters will still be able to prompt for a variety of gen and shippy ideas focused on those characters.
To be clear, we do understand this. But for many of us, a character-and-ship matching exchange is fundamentally different, in both general event feel and in terms of our matchability, than a character matching exchange. ToT was a space that not only allowed but actively encouraged ambiguous relationships, and while adding ship matching is a gain for some people it actually represents a loss to others. And not just on a personal level but, as others have pointed out, to the variety of the multifandom exchange scene as a whole.

It's your exchange, and I can accep that it's not for me this year and probably never will be again, which is disappointing but fine. Just want you to know that 'Just request solo characters' is a solution to a different problem.

[(Anonymous)]

This. The ambiguity and the flexibility were a huge plus, and this eliminates that and makes it a lot less fun for many people.

Why have you come in out of nowhere and changed something so fundamental without community input?

[muccamukk]

Co signing everything Kima just said.

Adding: My experience with exchanges that allow both ship and character nominations is that the ship nominations tend to take over, and that if a participant only offers/requests character matching, their chances of being unmatchable are much higher.

I understand that you've decided that you're locked into this at least this round, but I'm disappointed that as a new mod you didn't consult your participants (many of whom have been doing this since the first round and are very invested in the existing set up), and are ignoring the almost universal request to not add ship matching that's happening in this thread. I will be honest, it feels like you're taking something we loved away from us, and that makes me very sad.